Garfield County Commissioner Jerry Taylor, of Escalante, was recently presented the One Utah Summit Transformational Leadership Award on October 9 at Southern Utah University.
Transformational leadership is an approach to leadership that focuses on inspiring and motivating others to achieve common goals. It entails identifying opportunities, creating a shared vision of purpose and direction, acting as a role model, providing support, and creating an ethical framework of values and standards.
Transformational leaders know how to encourage, inspire, and motivate others to perform in ways that create meaningful change. Jerry’s goal is to bring people together in our divided country.
“As a leader, I want to open doors and have them walk in our boots. I also want to walk in their boots and understand their issues,” Jerry told The Byway.
After attending SUU’s Utah Rural Leadership Academy a few years ago, Jerry was able to use newly acquired skills to work with fellow Academy member, Beaver County Commissioner Tammy Pearson. As a result, they bolstered and enhanced the established Congressional Briefing Tour where politicians and staffers see Utah’s federally owned lands first-hand.
Their goal with this Congressional Briefing Tour was to inform and educate staff who worked for congressional leaders. They weren’t always familiar with Western states and our unique approach to managing our public lands. Prior to this exposure, the leaders would listen, but not understand. Now, thanks to the Five County and the Six County organizations who help fund this exposure, dignitaries from the East get us.
Initially, there was a ‘them vs. us’ attitude, a competitive feeling. Now, the tour focuses on building relationships during the four days of traveling together. Many of the participants are members of the Natural Resource Committee.
The group of 20-30 guests, made up of representatives, senators, and staffers first flies into Salt Lake City. From there they learn first-hand how amazing this state is and what issues western people face and visit many of the following sites:
- Redmond Salt Mine where they tour the 480-foot deep mine with 63 trace minerals.
- Nephi to view the devastation of wildfires.
- Johnson Ranch in Salina to ride horses or 4-wheelers and see a working ranch operate.
- Axtel to learn about the 125,000 wild horses that are costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
- Richfield to visit Dalton Lumber Mill and learn about forest health. A healthy forest has 70-80 trees per acre. In Utah, we have thousands of trees per acre.
- Through Antimony past Pine Lake up to Powell Point where they can see thousands out of the 3.3 million acres in Utah that are federally owned.
- Sunrise Point in Bryce Canyon where these awestruck visitors get to watch the sunrise.
Guests are then shuttled to St. George to fly home, full of awareness and understanding.
In August, Jerry’s group concluded their fifth year. In contrast to the attitudes when this program first started, people are now begging to participate. One woman who had never been to Utah before said, “I thought public lands held big cities!” Now she knows differently.
When a Utah delegate talks about PILT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) with someone from another state who has been on the trip, the visitor listens and now understands the topic. (For more information on PILT, read the article, PILT Is Our Plight.)
Jerry Taylor has been on the National Association of Counties Board (NACO) and works closely with people who are culturally and ethnically diverse who have now walked in our boots. Rather than governing from the extreme edges, they lead from the middle. Jerry invited Larry Johnson, president of NACO, to join in one of the tours. Getting Larry here was a huge accomplishment.
In addition to these successes, Jerry is Chairman of the Utah Association of Counties (USAC) and has been voted as Outstanding Commissioner of the Year twice. He has a knack for listening and opening doors of understanding for all parties involved. He is truly a transformational leader for Garfield County, the entire state of Utah, and our nation, bringing people together.
– by Karen Munson
Feature image caption: Garfield County Commissioner Jerry Taylor, of Escalante, receiving the One Utah Summit Transformational Leadership Award on October 9 at Southern Utah University.
Read more about local issues catching state and federal attention in What Do Commissioners Mean When They Talk about Water Conservation?
Karen M. Munson – Escalante
Karen is an associate editor at The Byway. She is fascinated and fulfilled by all things involved with writing. After graduating from BYU, she taught English at Escalante High School for three years. She pursues opportunities to write and support others in their writing. Karen has published three books with four more scheduled to be released in 2024. She and Reed are the parents of ten children and the grandparents of 35 grandchildren.
Karen is the author of the New Twist on Mental Health column in The Byway.